Key check and rack



May 23, 1939. DRUMMQNU KEY cmzcx AND RACE Filed June 28, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet l w T N E v m M y 19390 A. DRUMMOND KEY CHECK AND BACK Filed June 28, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 llM NVENTOR pg fizz;

Patented May 23, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 10 Claims.

This invention relates to certain improvements in an identification checking and racking device for which Letters Patent of the United States No. 2,058,963 was granted to me October 27, 1936.

As pointed out in my prior patent, the invention may be applied for use with various articles but for convenience of illustration, I have embodied it in the form of a key check and rack suitable for household use, where a small number of keys are employed or for real estate offices, hotels and institutions, where keys are handled in large numbers and their orderly assembly is required, so they may be instantly available without delay.

In the patent referred to, each key is provided with an identification tag, which is edge-notched to be readily slipped on or ofi a strip form of support, at any point within the length of the support, but no provision is made for separating or spacing the keys to prevent crowding and difficulty experienced in removing the desired key from the rack without removing one or more of the keys on either side of it.

To meet this objection, the rack, in the present embodiment of the invention, is provided with a division formation which enters between the key tags and definitely and positively spaces them apart at equal distances one from another, thus preventing crowding and providing sufficient clearance to enable any key to be removed or replaced without disturbing the others on the rack.

Again in the patent, the assembly of the racked keys is such that they completely overlap each other and the identification marking on the tags is not normally visible, so that more or less manipulation of the tags is necessary, in order to read the markings thereon, and there is usually some delay in locating a particular key.

This objection is overcome in the present em bodiment of the invention by arranging the tags in the racked assembly in such relation that they only partially overlap each other, leaving a side or top edge, either or both, containing the identification marking, clearly in view, so that the key desired may be instantly located at a glance.

In the patent, the engagement between the strip form of rack support and the straight edge notch of the tags is found objectionably insecure, owing to the ease with which the tags may be disengaged by an accidental blow or careless handling.

To remedy this trouble, I employ a round or fiat wire as the rack support and provide an offset terminal enlargement at the inner end of the tag notch which the rack wire enters and while offering no appreciable resistance to the intentional removal of a tag, practically locks the tag against accidental disengagement.

In addition to the above mentioned features, there are various other structural improvements which will appear from the detail description of the invention which follows.

The preferred embodiment of the invention, as applied for racking keys, is illustrated, with several modifications, in the accompanying drawings but I do not wish to be understood as intending to limit myself to the same, as various changes may be made therein and the device applied for use with articles other than keys, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as outlined in the appended claims.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a view in perspective showing a small or household type of my improved key rack positioned and bracketed to a side wall to normally expose the identification markings on the right hand edge of the key tags and also showing, in dotted lines, the bracket repositioned as required for attachment to the under side of a shelf or like support.

Fig. 2 is a like view showing the bracket secured to give the rack the required inclination to step the tags upward, one sufliciently above the other, to normally expose their top edges as well as their right hand side edges, thereby making either or both of the edges available for identification marking.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the rack, as shown in full lines in Fig. I.

Fig. 4 shows the rack of Fig. l, constructed en tirely of a single piece of wire.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a modified form of rack designed for use in a drawer or cabinet.

Fig. 6 shows a key shaped to be racked without the use of a tag.

Referring now to the drawings, I represents the key rack, which is preferably made of round resilient or semi-resilient wire, in the form of a spiral spring, drawn out to separate the turns and provide seating space between them for key identification tags 2 or other articles to be racked. The spiral rack terminates at its opposite ends in approximately J-shaped hooks 3, which engage an end notch 4 and an adjacent opening 5, in the projecting arms 6 of a bracket 1 and are readily detachable therefrom to provide clearance when the bracket is being secured in position or removed.

The length of the bracketed rack depends upon the number of keys to be accommodated and if lengthened sufficiently to cause the spiral rack to sag more or less, additional forwardly extending bracket arms, or other supporting members may be provided for the spiral at points intermediate its ends.

The bracket is shaped to enable it to be secured to a vertical wall, with the spiral rack horizontally extended, parallel to the Wall, as shown in full lines in Fig. 1, or to the under side of a shelf, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, or by securing the bracket with the section 'l thereof against a Wall or shelf, the spiral rack may be made to pro ject outwardly at an angle, with the rack either horizontally disposed or inclined.

If desired, the above described spiral rack and bracket support may be made of a single piece of wire, as shown in Fig. 4.

As a further modification of the rack, the form shown in Fig. 5, may be employed for use in a drawer or cabinet. In this modification the strip form of rack is shown of the type disclosed in my prior patent referred to, but here, the upper edge of the strip is notched, as indicated at 8, to separate and equi-space the tags thereon as is done by the division formation of the spiral rack above described.

The key identification marking on the tag may be a name or a letter or number, if preferred, and may be applied in any manner well known in the art. As here shown, a thin sheet metal stampedup label 9 is employed and is provided with terminal tabs 9 of sufficient length to project through openings ID in the tag and be bent over on the back thereof. These labels may be made in strip form with suitable names stamped up vthereon and broken apart as required for use. The openings in the tag are positioned to enable the labelto besecured to either the side edge thereof, as in Fig. 1, or the top edge, as in Fig. 2. The position of the label on the tag is optional with the user of the rack. When secured on the side edge of the tag, the spiral rack may be either horizontally disposed, as in Fig. 1 or inclined, as in Fig. 2, as the tags are held in both cases by the spiral in partially overlapping relation, substantially facing outward, with their right hand side edges exposed. When the labels are on the top edge of the tags, the spiral rack must be upwardly inclined as in Fig. 2, which results in exposing the top edge, in addition to the right hand side edge, and brings the labels clearly in view.

The edgenotch of the tags 2, to which I have previously referred, is in the form of an open slot II, and preferably extends from the left hand ,side of the tag, near. the bottom, diagonally upward and terminates within the body of the tag in an enlargement 12. The slot is preferably made sligthly flaring at the edge entrance and beyond that point to the enlargement, is just wide enough to admit easy passage of the spiral rack wire.

To guard against accidental disengagement of the tags from the rack wire, the terminal enlargement I2 is offset somewhat from the slot l i and the rack wire being confined more or less in the offset enlargement by its location out of line with the slot, will tend to maintain engagement and prevent the tag from readily riding off the wire if unintentionally rocked back and forth or given upward movement.

The tags are maintained upright on the rack wire by the weight of the attached keys 13, which are secured to the tags by wire links l4, engaging the .usual key openings !5 and openings IS, in the tags, .Whichlattenwhen the keys. are racked,

are in vertical alignment with the offset enlargement of the tag slots.

In the modification shown in Fig. 6, the tag is dispensed with by forming the rack-engaging slot ll with its terminal. offset enlargement 12 in the head ll of the key and pivotally attaching thereto a metal tab, loop or link l8 bearing a suitable identification marking I9.

The operation and many important advantages of the invention will be apparent from the foregoing and it will, therefore, not be necessary to further describe the same.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1'. A support for identification tags and other articles of the hook-on type, comprising a member provided with a divisional formation by which the tags or other articles are spaced apart thereon and further with obliquely disposed engaging portions for the tags or other articles by which they are held in overlapping relation and at such an angle as to normally face substantially outward with part of the front surface of each exposed to view.

2. A support for identification tags and other articles as defined in claim 1, in which the tags are spaced at equal distances apart in close overlapping relation with an edge portion of each normally exposed to View.

3. A support for identification tags and other articles as defined in claim 1, in which portions of the divisional formation enter between the tags and engage opposite sides thereof to space and hold the tags at substantially equal distances apart.

l. A support for identification tags and other articles, as defined in claim 1, in which the obliquity of the tag-engaging portions of the support is such that the tags or other articles are normally held facing substantially outward in partially overlapping relation with an edge of each exposed to view. I

5. A support for identification tags and other articles, as defined in claim 1, in which the normally exposed portionof the front face of the tags may be increased or diminished by varying the position of the supporting member.

6. A support for identification tags and other articles, as defined in claim 1, in which the normally exposed portion of the front face'of the tags is limited to a side edge thereof when the supporting member is horizontally disposed and such exposure is increased to include the top edge of the tags when the supporting member is upwardly inclined.

7. A support for. identification tags or other articles as defined in claim 1, in which the support is an open spiral member, the turns of which space the tags apart and provide obliquely disposed engaging portions for the tags by which they are normally held in partially overlapping relation, facing substantially outward with the edge thereof normally exposed to view.

8. A support for identification tags or other articles as defined in claim 1, in which the 'sup-' port is an open spiral member, the turns of which space the tags apart and provide obliquely disposed engaging portions for the tags by which they are normally held in partially overlapping relation, facing substantially outward with theedge thereof normally exposed to View and a carrying bracket for positioning the spiral support for use.

9. A support for identification tags or other articles as defined in claim 1, in which the support is an open spiral member, the turns of which space the tags apart andxprovide obliquely dis,-

posed engaging portions for the tags by which they are normally held in partially overlapping relation, facing substantially outward with the edge thereof normally exposed to view and a carrying bracket for positioning the spiral support for use, the said bracket being provided with projecting arms between which the spiral is detachably held.

10. A support for identification tags or other 10 articles as defined in claim 1, in which the support is an open spiral member, the turns of which space the tags apart and provide obliquely disposed engaging portions for the tags by which they are normally held in partially overlapping relation, facing substantially outward with the edge thereof normally exposed to View and a carrying bracket for positioning the spiral as required to vary the exposed surface of the tags thereon. 

